Bet on Cycling

The Katusha team has a new red jersey for 2011 but the design remains the same with the profile of the Kremlin confirming that the team was created to promote the Russian global cycling project and boost cycling in the country.

With those goals in mind, the Katusha Under 23 and Under 21 development teams help the best Russian riders develop and mature. And in 2011 the UCI ProTeam squad will include four riders from the development squad: Arkimedes Arguelyes, Petr Ignatenko, Alexander Mironov and Alexander Porsev.

Katusha won 20 races in 2010 and secured 47 other top three placings but Team Manager Andrei Tchmil is always looking for ways to improve the performance of his riders and has recruited former World Champion Mario Cipollini to mentor the sprinters in the Katusha development squad. The Italian is widely considered as one the greatest sprinters of all time and perfected the art of the lead-out train during his long career. We can expect the Katusha riders to be highly drilled in the final kilometres of races in 2011.

The Katusha UCI ProTeam includes some of the very best international riders, giving the Russian riders role models to learn from. Spain’s Joaquin Rodriguez topped the UCI World Ranking in 2010, confirming his consistency throughout the season. He won the Volta a Catalunya and a stage of the Tour de France and stacked up top five placings in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Flèche Wallonne and the Vuelta a España. He will be the stage race team leader in 2011 along with Giampaolo Caruso and Vladimir Karpets.

Filippo Pozzato was in the thick of the action in the cobbled classics but illness forced him to miss the Tour of Flanders. He intends to make amends in 2011 and will have extra support from fellow Italian Luca Paolini, Aleksandr Kuschynski of Belarus and Belgium’s Leif Hoste.

Alexandr Kolobnev and Serguei Ivanov will lead the Katusha team in the hillier classics. Kolobnev will proudly wear the Russian National Champion jersey in the first part of 2011 and will surely land a major victory after so many placings.